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Small Meteor Hits Sudan : No One Injured

Meteors and asteroids hit the earth all the time, or rather earth's atmosphere. The last really big object, as far as we know, was the initiator of the Tunguska event. I've always wondered what would have happened had the asteroid hit Edwardian London, rather than Siberia, which was only a few hours away; certainly, the impact in 1908 was enough to light London nights for several weeks.

Anyway, today's major asteroid news is not the rock, which burned up, but the fact that it was the first ever to be tracked and predicted. NASA is quite proud of the achievement, which was an international effort, and which makes one think. I'm not wholly sure what drew me to it.

I assume it was the news of the £400 billion UK bail-out of the financial sector. At least it involved acknowledged nationalisation. Anyway, I found myself thinking of how far around the earth 400 billion bank notes would go. Assuming that they are all 156 mm or so long, I make that some 64200 kilometres--enough to go round the world five times. The mind boggles.

Yesterday was an amazing day. I am convinced that we are now in a long crisis, and that anyone who predicts what is going to happen is to be assessed in that light. Hold your loved ones close, pay off your debts, and make sure that you have a hundred pounds or so beneath the bed in case the banks shut.

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